Chapter 69: The Main Theme is a Crushing Defeat
Complete silence fell over the vast Forest of Death examination hall. You could hear a pin drop.
An invisible pressure seemed to permeate the air, the heavy atmosphere weighing on everyone's hearts like a massive boulder.
The smile on Higashi's face gradually faded, replaced by an unyielding chill.
His already sinister, narrow eyes half-closed, revealing bone-chilling killing intent. His chakra surged and churned like a tidal wave, causing spiderweb cracks to spread across the observation platform beneath his feet.
"Very well then. But do you know something?"
He laughed in pure fury, the corners of his mouth stretching to his ears in a smile that, though genuinely amused, appeared extremely ferocious and terrifying. His eyes flashed with vicious light: "The last Uchiha who acted so arrogant in front of me? I twisted his head clean off his shoulders."
"If you can actually do that, feel free to twist mine off."
Uchiha Kazuki beckoned lazily with one finger. "Let's not waste any more time. Come down here. Hurry up and finish this—I need to get back and rest."
BOOM—!
A violent tremor instantly created a shockwave that rippled outward.
The powerful impact made the entire tower seem to shake violently, followed by a thunderous sound that rang like a massive bell in everyone's ears.
"All irrelevant personnel—GET OUT OF HERE!"
Higashi clenched his fists, knuckles cracking audibly, and walked forward with a sinister grin spreading across his face. "Consider yourself fortunate, brat. For the sake of diplomatic relations with the Hokage, I can spare your life. I'll just break both your arms as compensation for your provocation against Iwagakure!"
BOOM!
A thunderous roar exploded across the flat ground.
The neatly laid bricks crumbled instantly, cracking inch by inch. Amidst the surging, turbulent waves of displaced air, a figure shot forward like a dragon traversing ocean waves.
"You talk way too much!"
The voice arrived before the person could be seen clearly.
Higashi's heart trembled violently. He felt a sudden burst of wind rushing against his cheek, his flesh trembling from the pressure, unable to even keep his eyes fully open.
Then, a fierce, whip-like kick struck through the air, causing it to crackle and pop with displaced energy.
"Konoha Hurricane!"
Danger!
In desperate haste, Higashi could only raise both arms to block the incoming strike.
BANG!
Overwhelming power poured down like a waterfall. In an instant, Higashi felt excruciating pain shoot through both arms as his bones cracked and splintered under the impact.
Despite maintaining his blocking posture, he was forced backward more than ten meters. His feet scraped violently against the ground, leaving two charred, smoking trails with a foul smell.
"Is that really all you've got?"
Uchiha Kazuki didn't pursue immediately, offering only a faint, mocking sneer.
Damn it... that hurts!
Just from taking one taijutsu attack, his arms felt like they were about to shatter completely.
After that first exchange, Higashi immediately dropped his initial contempt. His eyes unconsciously turned deadly serious: "Such incredible taijutsu strength! Is he a taijutsu specialist?"
But that thought quickly vanished.
His opponent was an Uchiha clan shinobi—that much was obvious. How could an Uchiha possibly specialize in taijutsu instead of their legendary Sharingan techniques?
Of course, Higashi had no way of knowing...
In that last attack, Uchiha Kazuki's legs had been covered in dragon-like scales beneath his pants, greatly amplifying his physical strength beyond normal human limits.
Otherwise, there was no way he could have forced back an elite Jōnin with a single Konoha Hurricane strike.
Realizing this, Higashi felt even more serious pressure building. He sighed inwardly with frustration.
Konoha truly has an endless stream of talented shinobi. One White Fang dies, and immediately Namikaze Minato appears. And now there's even young prodigies like Uchiha Kazuki emerging.
Comparison really is the thief of joy.
Looking back at his own village's shinobi and their disappointing performance, Higashi felt genuinely hopeless about Iwagakure's future.
In just those few seconds of combat, Higashi deeply regretted his earlier decision. But now, even if he wanted to stop fighting, he figured the other side wouldn't agree to it anyway.
"Earth Release: Earth Spear Forest!"
Having directly witnessed the devastating power of Uchiha Kazuki's taijutsu, Higashi immediately decided to create distance and fight at range.
Suddenly, the ground trembled violently. Sharp rock spears erupted from the earth with incredible speed, shooting toward Kazuki like deadly projectiles.
Sharingan!
Uchiha Kazuki's eyes instantly turned crimson. Three tomoe spun rapidly, perfectly reflecting the incoming trajectory of every rock spear.
The next moment, like an arrow released from a bow, he fearlessly charged directly toward the numerous deadly spears hurtling through the air.
His figure wove through the barrage with impossible precision, dodging and weaving left and right like a dancer on a knife's edge. He avoided each spear with millimeter margins, moving with precise grace while constantly advancing forward, closing the distance almost instantly.
Seeing that his jutsu couldn't even slow down Uchiha Kazuki, Higashi's expression changed drastically.
He immediately took a half-step backward to increase distance while simultaneously plunging his hand deep into the ground.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
BOOM!
The veins on Higashi's arms bulged prominently as he lifted and flipped a massive section of earth, creating a wall-like barrier directly in front of him.
Hiding behind the massive earthen wall, he bought himself a brief but crucial moment to rapidly form hand seals for his next technique.
"Just a simple earthen wall? You think hiding behind that will protect you?"
However, Uchiha Kazuki, staring at the massive boulder blocking his path like a fortress wall, simply clenched his fingers into a tiger-claw shape. Veins bulged prominently on the back of his hand as extremely sharp wind-natured chakra gathered around his fingertips, emitting a series of high-pitched, piercing sounds as it tore through the air itself.
"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves!"
The wind-style chakra, compressed to its absolute limit, vibrated violently at impossibly high frequency and invisible speed.
Finally, it formed into a high-speed rotating, serrated disc of cutting wind.
Up in the observation stands, Pakura's composed expression vanished the instant she saw this technique. It was replaced by extreme seriousness as she muttered a few words with shock: "No hand seals... for an A-rank ninjutsu?!"
SWOOSH!
The massive boulder barrier, thick as a fortress wall, might as well have been warm butter against the Wind Release technique.
The rock's cross-section was sliced smooth as a polished mirror. The wind disc, maintaining its deadly cutting power, sliced through the stone without the slightest resistance, then continued its trajectory directly toward Higashi without slowing down at all.
Extremely dangerous!
Based purely on combat experience and instinct, Higashi immediately recognized this technique as incredibly lethal.
Almost without conscious thought, he abandoned the jutsu he'd been preparing to execute. With a desperate, clumsy roll, he barely managed to dodge the incoming wind disc.
Despite his quick reaction, his shoulder was still grazed by the technique, instantly breaking bones and severing tendons.
Pshhh—
A fountain of blood spurted out in an arc.
Higashi, clutching his mangled shoulder in agony, hadn't even fully regained his footing when he was struck squarely in the face by a devastating punch.
BANG!
His body slammed violently into the wall with crushing force.
There was physical pain, certainly—but more than that, there was pure shock and disbelief.
He... a dignified elite Jōnin of Iwagakure... was being utterly crushed.
From beginning to end, he'd had absolutely no chance to properly retaliate or mount any effective counterattack.
"DAMN IT!"
Higashi roared in furious rage, breaking free from the crater in the wall. He snarled viciously: "You asked for this, you Uchiha brat!"
To be beaten this badly by a mere young shinobi, completely crushed from start to finish—if news of this gets back to the Tsuchikage, he'll rip my head off for sure!
"You've been watching for quite a while now. You must be getting rather impatient, right?"
Uchiha Kazuki casually dusted off his clothes, looking completely relaxed as he gazed up at Pakura on the observation platform. He said calmly, almost conversationally:
"I won't bother repeating myself. All of you... come at me together."
This was a genuinely rare opportunity.
He fully planned to use this chance to build up his reputation throughout Konoha in one decisive move.
After all, reputation and recognition were absolutely essential components for his future plans and the ceremony he had in mind.
[End of Chapter 69]
Author's Notes:
Kazuki is NOT playing around! He just casually dominated an elite Jōnin and is now calling out EVERYONE to fight him at once!
Key highlights:
Kazuki using hidden dragon scales to boost his physical strength
No-hand-seal Wind Release technique that shocked even Pakura
Complete and total domination of an experienced elite Jōnin
That legendary confidence: "All of you... come at me together"
Is Kazuki really this strong, or is he bluffing? Will Pakura and the others actually team up against him? Find out next chapter!